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This review may contain spoilers
Another popular drama that is unworthy of the hype.
This review has mild spoilers but nothing that will ruin the drama for you if you haven’t watched it already. :) I have not read or watched any other media adaptations of Hana Yori Dango and my review is based solely on this version.
First of all, I want to say that I am pretty new to dramas in general and jdramas in particular. Jdramas generally have a very positive reception from me and this is the first jdrama which I’ve rated so low.
Hana Yori Dango was a painful watch. The only reason why I watched it was because it was one of the “popular” Japanese dramas according to the MDL database and with over 40,000 viewers on MDL alone, HYD is no doubt popular. It has a rating of 8.3 which is higher than some of the masterfully written jdramas like “Karamazov no Kyodai.”
With these facts in mind, and because I wanted to watch something popular, I tried Hana Yori Dango.
As described in the synopsis, Hana Yori Dango follows the story of Makino Tsukushi who is the only student at Eitoku who comes from a poor family. Eitoku is attended by children of rich families and its despot is a group of four high-school students who go by the title of “Four Flowers,” abbreviated as F4—Domyoji Tsukasa, the leader of F4 and the heir to the Domyoji World Finance Group; Hanazawa Rui, the introverted son of a large company; Nishikado Sojiro and Mimasaka Akira.
Tsukushi always maintains a low profile at Eitoku but when she stands up for her friend and new transfer student Sakurako, she becomes the subject of ridicule and bullying because the F4 have issued the Red Notice for her.
Following this, Tsukushi is defended on several occassions by Hanazawa Rui and she develops a crush on him but Domyouji falls for her and thus begins the tussle between the two friends.
These are my primary problems with Hana Yori Dango:
1. Badly written Female lead.
Tsukushi is actually quite a nice female lead. She is atypical in the sense that she isn’t beautiful according to societal standards, her manners aren’t polished like other female leads are expected to be and she can throw a mean punch.
But Tsukushi is a bad attempt at writing a strong female lead, so much so that it doesn’t justify the “Strong Female Lead” tag on MDL. Yes, she stands up for her best friend Yuki and also protects Sakurako, but at the most crucial moments luke when Domyouji sends a gang of boys after her to rape her (more on that in a bit) or when a knife was held to her throat, she completely became dependant on Hanazawa Rui or Domyouji to save her.
Tsukushi is a typical example of a femae lead who is strong in a “cute way,” but doesn’t stand up for herself at serious moments like when she is about to get raped.
2. Atrocious Male Lead.
Lets get this clear. Domyouji is an asshole. No, he is.
He is the leader of the F4 and actively causes other students to get bullied and he does so even if he someone mistakenly dirties his shirt. He goes so far as to inhumanely treat Tsukushi by asking her to lick sauce off his shoes. He also bullies three boys by dunking their heads under water, to make them rape Tsukushi and drive her out of the school.
The worst part is that Domyouji had nearly no character development and whatever minor character development he did have, was abrupt and sudden.
3. Romance.
By the end of Hana Yori Dango, each of the F4 members have found their perfect good girl pairings. They don’t have anger issues anymore and are not womanizers. The concluding pairs don't sit well with me at all because the only pair I was truly rooting for were Hanazawa Ruu and his crush.
Even in terms of Domyouji and Tsukushi, their development of feelings was abrupt and the realization of mutual feelings happened only after several cliched dramatic events. Long story short, the development of romance has a lot to make up for.
4. The ending. (Major spoiler)
Hana Yori Dango could have had a great ending in my opinion, with Domyouji’s mother understanding that Domyouji and Tsukushi’s feelings were real. But no, they decided to drag thus story into a second season with a boring ending involving a teary farewell.
It was almost as if a part of the ending had been cut out as a sudden decision.
The final takeaway:
I think the best part about Hana Yori Dango is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It is full of cliches and tropes and it could have been a fun watch but it was just too problematic and I have to draw a line.
A handsome 3.5 for HYD. This was a waste of my time. Rewatch value is the lowest I vould offer on the given scale. I do not plan to watch other adaptations of HYD except maybe the upcoming Thai adaptation because I like GMMTV dramas and I hope they change up the story to reduce these aspects which ruined HYD for me.
First of all, I want to say that I am pretty new to dramas in general and jdramas in particular. Jdramas generally have a very positive reception from me and this is the first jdrama which I’ve rated so low.
Hana Yori Dango was a painful watch. The only reason why I watched it was because it was one of the “popular” Japanese dramas according to the MDL database and with over 40,000 viewers on MDL alone, HYD is no doubt popular. It has a rating of 8.3 which is higher than some of the masterfully written jdramas like “Karamazov no Kyodai.”
With these facts in mind, and because I wanted to watch something popular, I tried Hana Yori Dango.
As described in the synopsis, Hana Yori Dango follows the story of Makino Tsukushi who is the only student at Eitoku who comes from a poor family. Eitoku is attended by children of rich families and its despot is a group of four high-school students who go by the title of “Four Flowers,” abbreviated as F4—Domyoji Tsukasa, the leader of F4 and the heir to the Domyoji World Finance Group; Hanazawa Rui, the introverted son of a large company; Nishikado Sojiro and Mimasaka Akira.
Tsukushi always maintains a low profile at Eitoku but when she stands up for her friend and new transfer student Sakurako, she becomes the subject of ridicule and bullying because the F4 have issued the Red Notice for her.
Following this, Tsukushi is defended on several occassions by Hanazawa Rui and she develops a crush on him but Domyouji falls for her and thus begins the tussle between the two friends.
These are my primary problems with Hana Yori Dango:
1. Badly written Female lead.
Tsukushi is actually quite a nice female lead. She is atypical in the sense that she isn’t beautiful according to societal standards, her manners aren’t polished like other female leads are expected to be and she can throw a mean punch.
But Tsukushi is a bad attempt at writing a strong female lead, so much so that it doesn’t justify the “Strong Female Lead” tag on MDL. Yes, she stands up for her best friend Yuki and also protects Sakurako, but at the most crucial moments luke when Domyouji sends a gang of boys after her to rape her (more on that in a bit) or when a knife was held to her throat, she completely became dependant on Hanazawa Rui or Domyouji to save her.
Tsukushi is a typical example of a femae lead who is strong in a “cute way,” but doesn’t stand up for herself at serious moments like when she is about to get raped.
2. Atrocious Male Lead.
Lets get this clear. Domyouji is an asshole. No, he is.
He is the leader of the F4 and actively causes other students to get bullied and he does so even if he someone mistakenly dirties his shirt. He goes so far as to inhumanely treat Tsukushi by asking her to lick sauce off his shoes. He also bullies three boys by dunking their heads under water, to make them rape Tsukushi and drive her out of the school.
The worst part is that Domyouji had nearly no character development and whatever minor character development he did have, was abrupt and sudden.
3. Romance.
By the end of Hana Yori Dango, each of the F4 members have found their perfect good girl pairings. They don’t have anger issues anymore and are not womanizers. The concluding pairs don't sit well with me at all because the only pair I was truly rooting for were Hanazawa Ruu and his crush.
Even in terms of Domyouji and Tsukushi, their development of feelings was abrupt and the realization of mutual feelings happened only after several cliched dramatic events. Long story short, the development of romance has a lot to make up for.
4. The ending. (Major spoiler)
Hana Yori Dango could have had a great ending in my opinion, with Domyouji’s mother understanding that Domyouji and Tsukushi’s feelings were real. But no, they decided to drag thus story into a second season with a boring ending involving a teary farewell.
It was almost as if a part of the ending had been cut out as a sudden decision.
The final takeaway:
I think the best part about Hana Yori Dango is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It is full of cliches and tropes and it could have been a fun watch but it was just too problematic and I have to draw a line.
A handsome 3.5 for HYD. This was a waste of my time. Rewatch value is the lowest I vould offer on the given scale. I do not plan to watch other adaptations of HYD except maybe the upcoming Thai adaptation because I like GMMTV dramas and I hope they change up the story to reduce these aspects which ruined HYD for me.
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